


14 Million And One Possibilities: An Alternative End To Endgame

by 3fandays



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-03 01:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21171338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3fandays/pseuds/3fandays
Summary: What if Stephen Strange had seen one future more?





	14 Million And One Possibilities: An Alternative End To Endgame

“If I tell you what’s going to happen, it won’t happen,” said Dr Strange to Mr Stark.  
“I hope you’re right.”  
They were in a battle against Thanos, and things weren’t looking good. Hordes and hordes of enemies swarmed the grounds, the Avengers headquarters had collapsed, and the Infinity Gauntlet was still out there somewhere – complete with all the Stones, ready to be used again.  
Dr Strange had seen 14 million and one futures, and there was only one in which no one got hurt.  
No one, except for him.  
He knew that if they knew what he was going to do they would try to stop him.  
And he didn’t have time for any of that.  
Now he saw things were taking a turn for the worst. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the Gauntlet had fallen into the hands of Thanos. The Avengers were desperately trying to stop him from snapping his fingers, but none of them managed to get their hands on it.  
It was time.  
Mr Stark shot a worried glance at Dr Strange, and he returned it with a gesture. Dr Strange pointed his shaking hand upwards – and then towards himself. Mr Stark’s eyes were wide, but Dr Strange could see he understood. He had to do this. Now or never.  
Dr Strange flew towards the fray, his trusty cloak flapping in the wind for what he hoped would not be the last time. And then there he was, eye in eye with the enemy himself – Thanos.  
He knew he couldn’t win a fight with him one on one. But he didn’t need to. All he needed was to distract him.  
Dr Strange started making shapes in the air with his hands, orange glowing sparks sizzling in the air. Thanos launched a confident punch at Dr Strange with his ungloved hand, but Dr Strange quickly ducked, the orange sparks fizzling out. Thanos struck again and Dr Strange dodged. Thanos seemed to have the upper hand, not hitting Dr Strange but not giving him a window to attack either. If only he’d kept his eyes on Dr Strange’s hands, who were performing twitchy motions as he swerved and jumped.  
Then, all of a sudden, Thanos’s punch hit home. Dr Strange doubled up, clutching his stomach with balled hands. Thanos closed his hand around Dr Strange’s throat and threw him aside.  
As Dr Strange lay sprawled on the ground, Thanos lifted his gloved arm up. Then he snapped his fingers.  
And then… Nothing. Thanos looked at his hand and saw the Stones were missing from the Gauntlet.  
Oh no.  
He gazed up and saw Dr Strange rising from the ground, his hands still in the shape of fists. Then, he unfurled his fists, palms facing upward. Thanos saw them in his hands. The Stones.  
Then, trying his best not to shake, Dr Strange snapped the fingers on both of his hands.  
He saw Thanos turn to dust and smiled. Then he crumpled to the ground.

“Mr Stark, is he…?”, he heard someone say. The kid.  
“Nothing’s certain yet kiddo.”  
“Strange, what have you done?”  
Now that last one was Wong. Wong. He needed him.  
The pain was unbelievable. Not only his hands, but his arms, his lungs… They all felt wrong.  
Hurting and burning. He tried to think of what the Ancient One had told him. Don’t resist the pain. But it was too much. He tried to draw a circle in the air but couldn’t even raise his hand.  
He opened his eyes and spoke to Wong.  
“Take… me. to the… hospital. New… York. Christine.”  
Was his voice really that bad? This might be even worse than he had expected it to be.  
“Take. me… to-”  
Then it all cut to black.  
Strange went out of his body and made his spirit invisible so as not to distract the others. He saw Wong draw a portal and pass through it, carrying his still body in his arms. Even his hands were completely still. Strange felt his own pulse slip further and further away as he was carried through the hospital wards.  
“Mr Stark, do you think he’ll be okay?”  
“Kid, you weren’t supposed to follow us here.”  
“Yeah, eh, I know, my apologies Sir, but I just wanted to make sure he was gonna be okay after the whole snap-dust-burn situation.” A pause. “It-it’s not dangerous here, is it?”  
“It looks seriously understaffed, but otherwise harmless. Not surprising, considering half the world only reappeared several hours ago.”  
“Wow so that really happened? So many got all dusty like me? And that was five years ago? Does that mean I’m five years older now? Or are you five years more old than me? Not that I think you’re old, Mr Stark! Of course not-”  
“Kid, do me a favour. Stop talking.”  
“Right.” He made a gesture as though he was zipping his mouth, locking it, and throwing away the key. “Zipped. Not a word. I’ll… I’ll shut up now.”  
Mr Stark sighed, but Strange could see that he was glad to have the kid back with the living.  
As they approached the surgical wards, Strange let his spirit materialize.  
“Wow!”, the kid exclaimed, wide-eyed. “Is he a ghost?”  
Mr Stark gave him a sideways look.  
“Right. Not a word.”  
Then Strange saw her. Christine. He’d known she’d be here. And Christine saw him too.  
“Stephen!”, she shouted. “Is it really you? It’s been five years…”  
Her eyes fell upon his limp body.  
“What happened?”  
“A radiation blast. It seems I am in need of your help once more. We have little time to lose.”  
“Are you still…”  
“Alive? Yes. But not for much longer. Take me to the OR. Try to get me as stable as you can.”  
She nodded, and he smiled a fearful smile at her as a way of reassurance.  
“You got this,” he said, and let his spirit slip back into his body.

Christine wasted no more time. Wong carried Stephen into the OR and carefully laid him on the operating table. Christine gave him instructions on what to do to help. She passed a tube through his mouth into his trachea, allowing him to breathe. She then administered several other intravenous lines into his body to monitor fluid resuscitation.  
She hated seeing him like this. His arms looked the worst of all. Even worse than last time. Everything about this screamed déjà vu. Déjà vu again.  
“Oh Stephen”, she said out loud. “I don’t know if I can fix this. If I save you, you’ll never be the same again. You’ll never be able to do all the things you did before.”  
Suddenly, she felt a strange blow from behind and nearly toppled forwards.  
“And that’s okay.” She heard a voice behind her and turned around. Stephen was floating out of his body again. But it was different this time. Her own body stood between them, completely motionless. Wong stood motionless as well, as did the two others Christine saw standing behind the glass window of the OR.  
“Wasn’t it you who said that there are other things to give your life meaning?”  
“I did, but this-”  
“I’m no fool. I know it’s bad. But if there is anyone who can fix me, it’s you.”  
He thought of the Ancient One, freezing one moment in time to look at the snow one last time, and saw his own future branch into two. He could die here. Or he could survive. It would be hard, but it was possible.  
He’d been to hell and back before. He was sure he could do it again.  
He unfroze time.

Christine worked diligently, administering fresh cloths on his burns, keeping him cool, injecting him with cefepime to stop him from developing neutropenic sepsis from the high radiation levels. But the stress was still too much for Stephen’s body to bear. He spasmed on the table and gasped for air.  
“No, no, no, no, no. Stephen, stay with me. Don’t go now.”  
She touched a hand to his cheek. He stopped moving, lying completely motionless. The monitor to her left showed a flat line. Christine saw her owns fear reflected in Wong’s eyes as she prepared to resuscitate him with a defibrillator.  
3…2…1…  
“Clear!”  
Nothing.  
Breathe. Again.  
“Clear!”  
Still nothing.  
“Come on Stephen, I’m not losing you now.”  
One last time.  
“Clear!”  
She heard a small gasp. It was enough. Stephen was still alive.

Christine and Wong kept working throughout most of the night to stabilize Stephen further, the others sleeping in the waiting room. The morning after, the kid was sent home to his aunt. The older man stayed. Christine only learned that their names were Tony Stark and Peter Parker the afternoon after Stephen arrived. Before she’d been too preoccupied to learn their names.  
It was a while before Stephen finally woke up.

Three weeks after Stephen was brought in, he opened his eyes to see someone standing in his hospital room. The Bee Gees were playing faintly in the background.  
“Mr Stark,” he said weakly.  
“Please, call me Tony.” When Stephen didn’t reply, Tony continued. “I’m glad to see you’re awake.”  
“I’m glad I’m still alive,” said Stephen. He looked down at his arms. Bandaged, still hurting. It was strangely familiar to be in this room again.  
Tony followed Stephen’s gaze. “Does this mean you won’t be able to perform magic again?”  
“No,” Stephen shook his head. “You don’t need functioning arms for magic. I learned that the hard way. Did I ever tell you about my hands, Tony? I used to be a surgeon in this very hospital. But then I got involved in an accident. A car accident. My hands… They were damaged. The nerves were damaged irreparably. I’d never be able to operate again. I thought I was ruined. But I wasn’t.”  
“That’s when you turned to magic.”  
“Yes. You’re probably wondering why I am telling you this. What I mean to say is I turned out to be okay. I’ll be okay again. You don’t have to feel guilty.”  
Tony was surprised at this. How did Stephen know?  
“It was supposed to be me, wasn’t it?”, asked Tony. “My visions…”  
“That was one possibility to win the war, yes.”  
“Then why did you?”  
“You have a family. If you had done as I have, you wouldn’t have made it. I didn’t see a future in which you snapped Thanos to dust and lived to tell the tale.”  
Tony nodded slowly.  
“Is there anything I can do for you?”  
Stephen smiled.  
“Go to your family. Live, live to tell the tale.”  
“I-I will.”  
Tony turned to leave. When he reached the doorway, Stephen spoke up.  
“Oh wait, actually, there is something…”  
He turned around.  
“Yes?”  
“Before you leave, could you crank the radio up a bit? I want to hear the music.”  
Tony smiled.  
“You got it, Stephen.”  
He smiled back.  
“Please Mr Stark, call me Dr Strange.”


End file.
